


we'll talk in the morning

by imrnlyn



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drinking, F/M, Fluff, but theyre only in the background, jihoon being the best guy friend ever, seungcheol is part of the basketball team, soonhoon is a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 23:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18726985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imrnlyn/pseuds/imrnlyn
Summary: It’s a little overwhelming when you fall in love with someone you met just three weeks ago.





	we'll talk in the morning

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably the fastest one i've ever finished writing. i wasn't supposed to write this yet but yeah, its here. thought of this idea five days ago, wrote it last night. this was actually a wonwoo idea. i sent it to a friend and she asked for a seungcheol version, and here it is. im such a good friend lmao. maybe the wonwoo version will come soon. i just really wanted to write about a girl being drunk and seungcheol being soft to her. 
> 
> hope this is nice. leave kudos if you liked it!

A pre-birthday celebration; that was Jihoon’s excuse to force me to come with him to this bar near campus. It’s just the two of us, how is this a celebration? Other reasons may include guilt tripping me into saying he’s never the type to invite to go out on a weekday so I should be fucking grateful he’s asking me to go out. Truth is, he just wants to know why I’ve been acting the way I am recently, which is too quiet and maybe a little too distracted as well. His words, not mine.

Well, it wouldn’t be this way if he didn’t drag me to that in-campus Halloween party where I met the reason for my deep thoughts for the past week. That varsity idiot looking cute in his stupid vampire outfit. If only he didn’t look like a low budget Edward Cullen with poorly painted lipstick stains for what looks like hickeys on his neck. Vampires shouldn’t have vampire bites on their necks. That’s stupid.

He knows he looked ridiculous, I told him. What I get in return? His gummy smile that got me blushing crimson red in my Belle outfit where she sang that song and judged everyone in the town she was living in. I wanted to bash my head on the nearest fucking wall but he choose to introduce himself instead. “I’m Seungcheol.” He says smiling, offering a hand which I hesitated taking. Later that night, I found out that he and Jihoon are actually friends.

“He’s part of the basketball varsity.” Jihoon casually says, drinking from the obnoxiously red plastic cup of punch he was holding. “You are?” I only say because I’m almost drunk. Almost. Given the situation, I wouldn’t have probably joined the conversation sober. I’m more of an observer and listener. Which explains why Jihoon always drags to places and parties he goes to ever since we met at that sound production class we shared and ended up being partners for finals. He’s a music major. I’m an animation major.

“Wow, it’s not the first time somebody didn’t know I was part of the team but coming from a girl, too.” Seungcheol says looking at me then at Jihoon. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. I really had no idea. You made it sound like I ought to know that.” I said embarrassed. “That’s super self-absorbed Seungcheol. But, you have to forgive her. She doesn’t really know the campus’ current events.” Jihoon says in defense. Seungcheol just smiles in return and I try not to die a little inside.

“How come Jihoon’s never brought you before? I mean, you two look exceptionally close. You must be friends for a while now.” He asks after Jihoon leaves because Soonyoung texted him that he was finally there and got lost on his way to where we were. “I don’t really go out much.” I say but he just stares. “Fine, I don’t go out, period.” She finishes and Seungcheol’s eyes smile. “How come? I mean, this is college. You gotta let out steam sometimes you know?” He pauses as Jihoon arrives with Soonyoung in tow. “Have fun with friends. I don’t know get drunk? Wasted?” He adds to which Jihoon snorts. “Who? Her?” Jihoon asks, sitting beside Soonyoung, absentmindedly placing his palm on the latter’s thigh. “This is the first college party she’s ever gone to.” He says, handing Soonyoung a cup similar to the one he has. Soonyoung’s eyes and mouth gape, “Crazy right? She just kept rejecting hanging out with us.” And Seungcheol equips with a, “Really?”

Thanks, Jihoon. Thanks a lot.

“Yeah. Uhm… I never really had any friends from here before I met Jihoon and we just met last semester. So…” I say before drinking from my cup, bottoms up. “Yeah, something about focusing on your studies or some shit?” Jihoon says. “I respect that, but sometimes a little fun doesn’t hurt.” Seungcheol say smiling that stupid smile I don’t know if I’m starting to love or hate.

 

 

“Fuck you, Jihoon. This is all your fault.” I say to him from across the table with about ten shot glasses. Half of them empty by now. “How is this my fault? Was it my fault that you met Seungcheol? For the record, you met him while I was waiting for Soonyoung to arrive. I didn’t really introduce you to him, you did that yourself.” He says handing me another shot of this chocolatey cocktail that almost tastes like vomit. “I know.” I say desperately, cradling my head in my palms. “Then I kept hanging out with him.” “Which you also did by yourself.” He adds.

“It was good, wasn’t it? Hanging out with him?” He asks and I look at him to see if he was teasing. He definitely wasn’t. “Yeah, it actually was.” I admit and feel like crying now. “Then why are we here? It’s time to explain. It’s been a week since you’ve started this act and I know we haven’t been friends for long but I’m mildly worried because midterms are coming and you can’t stay like this. I don’t want our friendship to be the reason you’re going to lose focus on your academics.” Jihoon states. “No. No, it’s not your fault okay? It’s just… I’m confused, okay?” I say and he raises an eyebrow in question. “What’s there to be confused about?”

“After I met him, suddenly, he’s all over the place. I see him in the hallways, in the library, when we go out to eat, I see him all the god damn time. And yeah, we hang out just the two of us and that’s the confusing part. I’ve only just met him.”

Jihoon motions for the waiter for another round of this Chocolate cocktail. “So what if you just met him?” I don’t dare say anything in return. “You’re afraid that you might already like him?” I don’t answer that.

I sit back on my chair, as if that would give me more room to breathe. “Just last week,” I start just as the waiter arrives with the alcohol. “He asked me if I wanted to keep doing whatever we were doing. You know, hanging out in between classes, even after his basketball training was over, going out for dinner sometimes, watching warm-up games at the gym because he asked me to, and I was like cool,” He laughs, “You did not say ‘cool.’ That’s lame.” I shoot him a glare so he shuts up and motions for me to go on. “Okay, I didn’t say cool. But I told him that I did, that I liked hanging out with him, that it was refreshing having new things added to my daily routine, and how I’m just glad that my college life hasn’t been lame ever since I met him.”

“You do know what that sounds to me right?” Jihoon asks. “Shit, don’t say it.” I say closing my eyes as if that was going to work. “That sounded to me like you’ve been going out on dates for the past three weeks that you’ve known each other.”

“I hate you.”

“You only hate me because I’m right.”

“Yeah.”

Jihoon visibly leans forward on the table between us and asks, “So what are you so confused for? It’s obvious that he likes you and I think you like him, too. We’ve been friends as long as Soonyoung and I have been together and you’re the only person he’s ever been like this with,” he shrugs, “Just in case you wanted to know. So tell me, what’s the catch?” I down one shot. Two shots, actually. Before I start, “He asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend then I blanked out.” I just sat there looking at him, surprised that he hasn’t moved. Like he was expecting it. “We stood there. Not saying anything. He was waiting for me and I was already panicking.” I pause to drink another two shots. “Out of sheer panic…” I say, dejected. My head bowing unintentionally low. Jihoon finishes what I was going to say instead, “You said no.” I nodded, my eyes watering. I close my eyes shut because I tell myself that I am not going to cry. “Well, that sucks.” He says and I take another shot. For the record, I don’t usually drink this much. Actually, I never do.

“Then the next day,” I continue, “I text him if he wanted to eat at the chicken place we always went to so we ate there for lunch, but it was weird and I felt bad. He didn’t even try talking to me. Not once did he even look my way.” Jihoon chuckles saying, “It hurt didn’t it?” I send him another glare, “Shut up.” And earn another laugh from him.

“On our way back, he asked why I even invited him out for lunch if I rejected him. I told him it was because I wanted to. He spits back saying ‘you don’t do that to people you’ve just dumped.’” I say, air quoting whatever Seungcheol said. “Then I told him that was it so bad that I liked his company? That I’m happier when he’s there? I’ve probably been the happiest I’ve been the three weeks I’ve known him. Then he tells me to only talk to him when I’ve figured out what I wanted and walks away.” I finish the story with a bitter smile on my face.

“What’s stopping you?” Jihoon asks after a few seconds of silence. “Jihoon, I’ve only known him for three weeks.” I tell him. “So? He’s also only known you for three weeks. Did that ever cross your mind? Three weeks is twenty one days, more than half of the days in a month, just one week shy of a month. Do you need any more examples?” Shit, he’s right. “But he’s a guy.” I reply and down another shot of alcohol. It’s starting to taste less like vomit the more you drink it.

“So what? Is it because he’s a member of the varsity? You think he’s one of those people who dates and dumps once basketball season starts?” Jihoon states. I don’t say anything in return because a small part of me knows that’s one of the reasons why. To be honest, I don’t know, I’m still thinking. “You know what?” he shifts back in his seat. “Time shouldn’t dictate when you befriend someone, when you date someone, when you fall in love, and when you marry them. People can get married after being together for just less than a year and last a lifetime. Married people can be together for twenty, thirty, forty years and end up in divorce. You get my point? Just because you’ve known him for three weeks doesn’t mean what the two of you feel for each other isn’t real. Some people even fall in love at first sight. That’s a thing you know? Did I ever forget to tell you that Soonyoung asked me to be his boyfriend the first day we met?” He laughs, and his phone lights up as if on cue. Speaking of the devil.

“And he continued asking you every single time you two went out on dates but you still kept rejecting him,” I say smiling at him, “until you felt like he was getting tired waiting for you to say yes.” He picks up his phone, smiling back at whatever Soonyoung texted him. “Yeah, where’s the fun in that if I answered him the first day I met him?” He says to which we both laugh. “He says he’ll be here in a few.” Jihoon says, putting his phone back down on the table.

“Seungcheol’s a good guy. We all see the way he looks at you when you’re not. I hope you see it too.”

 

 

Soonyoung arrived an hour ago. I told them I was going to the restroom thirty-five minutes ago. I should’ve been back thirty minutes ago. Instead, here I am in the middle of a street at two-thirty in the morning. Hoping no one’s out to abduct me.

I fish out my phone from my pocket and call the first person that comes to mind.

“Hello?” Seungcheol answers. God, I missed his voice.

“Hey,” I greet back. “I’m drunk and currently outside your place. I don’t even know why I’m here.” I say then hear shuffling from his side. “I should probably go. I know you’re sleeping. Sorry, I even woke you up for this. This could probably wait for later.”

Then the light to the stairs is on and someone is visibly on their way down. “Is that you heading down the stairs? No. Don’t come here.” But there he is, opening the front door to the small apartment building in his sweatshirt and sweatpants. “Don’t come here. I’m drunk. Don’t be mad.” I say recalling how some of their friends got drunk the night we first met and he was complaining so much about being the only responsible one to drink but still be able to come home in one piece.

He crosses the walkway, ending the call, and putting the phone back in his pocket. “I’m not mad.” He smiles. I missed that smile. He walks closer grabbing my wrist. “But it is late and you shouldn’t be out here. Let’s go inside. It’s almost winter and it’s freezing.”

He pulls me inside. Keeping a firm grip on me as we wind up the stairs, probably noticing how drunk I really am. He fumbles with his door keys and my drunk self decides to be word vomit. I tell him, “Okay, I’m sorry that I’m drunk. It’s all-” He cuts me off saying, “Jihoon’s fault?” I laugh lightly as he finally opens the door to his place. “Yeah, fucking demon child.” I say and he laughs forgetting he’s supposed to not be talking to me. “Kept guilt tripping me about how he’s inviting me out for drinks before his birthday and that it was his treat and that he never does that so I’m an asshole if I don’t go. And now, here I am.” I look at him and he’s smiling at me saying, “Here you are.”

“Sorry, I know you hate it when people get drunk but…” I pause and he asks, “But?” I let out the most drunken laugh I’ve heard come from myself, “I don’t know. I don’t really have anything to say after that. I don’t know why I said that.” Seungcheol just softly laugh in return. “Can I come in? I’d really like a glass of cold water.”

So he motions for me inside his apartment and it’s not the first I’m here. We hang out here once, maybe twice, because he won’t stop talking about that new PlayStation game he bought and that he wanted to see if I was any good at games. I’m not. He demolished me every single time and I had to buy us pizza for dinner even if he kept insisting I didn’t have to. That the bet was just a joke. I insisted paying for it anyway.

He hands me a glass of cold water which I finish in one go. “I don’t even know I’m here.” I repeat. He smiles saying, “Yeah, you told me on the phone.” Then a moment of realization comes to me, “Fuck. No, I actually do. Shit. Where do I even start?” I look at him and he still has that smile on his stupidly handsome face even when his hair is messy from just being woken up, eyes droopy with sleep, and clothes looking soft and warm. “It’s okay. Take your time. We can be here all morning.” He tells me, leaning on his kitchen counter. I shake my head and reply, “No. You have early classes tomorrow right? You should be asleep now.”

He ponders for a moment and says, “How about let’s just get some sleep for now? The two of us. Then, we can talk in the morning.” I melt at how gentle he says that. “Yeah, I’d like that too. Everything’s spinning right now. I don’t even know how I got here.” He laughs, “Instinct probably.” I smile and say, “Yeah, that.”

“But how _did_ you get here?” He asks after a few beats. “I took a cab?” I say and he raises an eyebrow. “You hate taxis.” To which I don’t have anything to reply to. He starts taking steps closer asking, “You walked. Didn’t you?” It’s good that I’m drunk because I’d probably be panicking right now with him this close to me and I still haven’t told him what I was here for. “I don’t know. Maybe. Stop asking me questions you know the answer to.” I reply rushed. “Does Jihoon know you’re here?” I shake my head once more to tell him no. “I told him I was just going to the restroom. Well, I guess I took a fucking long route to the freaking restroom.” Seungcheol just laughs, knowing it’s the alcohol speaking and thinks that the amount of swears she’s said during this whole ordeal is actually quite endearing.

Seungcheol walks even closer to me and direct my head to his chest, hugging me around my shoulders while caressing my hair. It feels good. “You’re warm.” I say to him.

He lets me go a while later to look at me and say, “I’ll go get you a shirt you can change into.” I smile at him saying, “That’s be awesome. I smell so bad right now.” “You’re fine,” he tells me, “But I’m not letting that shirt touch my bed when you just came from a bar.” “Yeah, it’s pretty gross.”

He goes to his room and comes back with a white shirt in his hand. “Here,” he says handing it to me. I take it and say thanks. What I do next, I have no idea. But I lift up my shirt and put on the new one he just gave me. It’s good to know that Seungcheol is polite. He actually turned around laughing when I lifted my shirt. Remind me again not to drink with Jihoon.

“We can talk all about it in the morning when you’re sober and you hangover sets in.” He says after turning back around to face me, with a gentle expression on his face. “Yeah. I’ll probably deserve that hangover, too.” I say and he replies with, “maybe.” Then I’m retreating into his room like I own the place.

 

That morning, Seungcheol and I, we were in his living room. I’ve downed an entire glass of water along with some aspirin so the hangover’s not that bad. And for some reason he’s sitting on the sofa and I’m sitting on a chair across from him still in his shirt, like this is a freaking criminal investigation.

“Okay,” I start to say, “I’m sorry I hugged your sheets? I was cold.” He picks up the pillow beside him to hug it, “Well, if you didn’t remove your pants before getting into bed, you wouldn’t have been cold.” I sigh out of embarrassment. Again, remind me never to drink with Jihoon. “Alright. I really am sorry about that. I usually sleep without my pants and I probably wouldn’t have done that here if I wasn’t drunk. I promise. But thank you, for giving me an extra blanket to wrap myself into. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must’ve been for you.” Seungcheol just smiles, “It was bearable. But a warning could’ve been useful.” “Right, sorry.” I say sending him an apologetic smile in return.

“What did you want to say last night though?” He says, suggestively. I can already feel the rise of temperature on my face. I realize that, _he knows_ , and that’s the moment I get inside my head from utter panic. I tell myself, I just have to repeat everything I told Jihoon last night. It shouldn’t be harder than that. It’s just Seungcheol, the person who needs to hear it the most.

Before I know it, my hand are trembling, my eyes are watery, and my palms are cold. Seungcheol stands up from where he’s seated and crouches down in front me, worry written all over his face. “Calm down. It’s just me.” I take a breath and tell him, “I know.” He continues saying, “I probably know what you’re going to say. I just really want to hear it from you.” His voice gentle and reassuring. And I wonder why I even doubted him the first time? God, I missed him.

He gets up and back to his previous spot on the sofa as I take a few more breathes to calm my nerves, “Fuck. I’m probably going to cry.” I softly to which he just smiles. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t being fair to you.” I pause because I feel like my hearts going to leap out of my chest. “Shit,” I mutter under my breath, “do know that this is so hard but…” He just smiles and says, “I’m highly aware.” His attention, all on me. I look down for a second and whisper, “Ok, let’s go.” More to myself. A tiny pep talk. But I’m guessing he heard because he’s now laughing. So I tell him, “Stop. Don’t laugh.” Which he obeys and calms down seconds later, nodding for me to continue.

“I like you, too. Okay? I’m sorry, I never said that. I like you. Heck, I probably even love you now. But who fucking knows?” My face and ears feels like they’re on fire. I don’t even want to know how much of a blushing mess I am right now. That’s the least of my concerns.

“I’m so bad with my feelings that I had to lose you before I even realize them.” I say looking down at my fidgeting fingers. Then he says, “But you never lost me.” And I might just lose my mind right now. I raise my palm up telling him, “Wait. Don’t talk.” And I take another deep calming breathe to ready myself for what I was going to say next and Seungcheol has the nerve to give out another chuckle. So I say louder than I intended to, “Stop laughing at me!” To which he just smiles even wider and utters, “You don’t know how much I want to hug you right now.” That obviously isn’t helping and I won’t admit it to him but it did calm my nerves by a quarter, maybe. “No. Don’t say that,” I say raising my palm at him once again which might look ridiculous, “I’m not yet done talking and you’re very distracting.”

Seungcheol finally quiets down, smiling. The two of us probably thinking about how outrageous this setting is for a god damn confession.

“I always knew what I wanted. I just couldn’t convince myself that I did. I didn’t want to become dependent on someone I just met. I didn’t want someone else I just met to be my source of happiness. But that’s what happened anyway.” I look at him and my heart hitches. Wondering how I even survived a week without seeing him and his gentle smile I fell for the first time I met him. “It’s funny how I got used to having you around me in just those three weeks, Cheol, and it’s been kind of hard not having you around. When I do something, my mind always goes back to you, what you’d probably say or do if you were there with me. But you weren’t and it sucked.” I smile at him, just glad that the words are flowing.

“I miss you, I do.” I say, “And to think that I and to get drunk to end up here and be able to talk about this out loud.” We both end up laughing. “You have no idea how many times I’ve rehearsed this in my head when I decided that I wasn’t really going to the restroom last night. And now my head feels like it’s going to explode. But hopefully, that’s everything I have to say.”

I finish my god forsaken speech that was a week long overdue and my heart feels like it’s on cloud nine from having everything lifted off of it in one go. Seungcheol gets up from where he’s sitting and walks towards me, offering a hand to help me off the chair before saying, “And if that’s not all, then you can just tell me when you remember.”

When I get up, he’s grinning that gummy smile he owns. It’s a simple smile but to me, it’s overwhelming. I don’t just feel butterflies in my stomach, it feels like a whole zoo in there. His eyes gently looking down at me and I smile back.

“I think I’m in love with you,” I tell him. He just says, “I know, you just had a whole speech about it.” And I feel like dying. This man is part of the basketball team for a reason, he really knows how to play.

His hand settles on my waist while the other cups my face. I try my best not to lean in but I think I failed because a second later, his hand on my cheek feels like the freaking sun on the first morning of winter. I close my eyes, leaning into him saying, “I’m probably going to hurl myself off a nearby cliff if you don’t say it back.” The sound of his laugh fills the room and he pulls me closer into a hug. The kind of hug that feels reassuring, like I didn’t just spend one week losing my mind over him because he’s here now and I get to hug him back. He pulls back. Both his hands now holding the sides of my face gently as he tilts my face up to look him in the eyes. “Of course, I love you too.” Then he’s leaning in.

The kiss is short. Seungcheol breaks it first before I’m standing on the tips of my toes hoping for more and we kiss a second time. It’s a little longer this time.

Then a thought crosses my mind. I lean back so abruptly, there’s surprise evident on his face. “Don’t you have an early class today?” I say, fisting the sides of his sweatshirt in my palms. He looks at me in the eyes, leaning back down almost closing the gap between us and I just want to tell him again that I love him. I can feel his breath on my lips. “Professor cancelled classes today,” he says before leaning back down for a third kiss.

 

We get brunch that morning and ignore texts from Jihoon and Soonyoung. He attends basketball training that afternoon while I hang around the gym trying to beat the highscores he has on his phone.


End file.
